The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-06-02

Vised to Take Admiral FarrRgut as Their
Exemplar.
BROOKLYN, May 29.-As this is the
time for the decoration of the graves Of
those who fell in war, the naval posts in.
vited the Rev. DR.. Talmage, d. D., to
preach sermon at the Brooklyn Taber.
nacle appropriate to the occasion, as often
In the annual commemoration but little had
been said of those who served in the navy.
An American flag adorned the pulpit and
the congregation sang with great spirit:
My country, It's of thee,
DR.. Talihage's text was from James Ill.
4-"Behold also the ships" He said:
If this exclamation was appropriate
about 1860 years ago, when it was written
concerning the crude fishing smacks that
sailed Lake Galilee, how much more ap-
propriate in an age which has launched
from the dry docks for purposes of peace
the Arizona, of the Guion Line; the City
Of Richmond, of the Inman Line; the
Egypt, of the National Line; the Ger
manic, Of the White Star Line; the Circas.
Bia, of the Anchor Line; the Etruria, Of
the Cunard Line, and the Great Eastern,
with hull $50 feet long-not failure, for
it helped lay the Atlantic Cable, and that
was enough glory for one ships existence
and in an age which for purposes Of war
has launched the screw sloops like the
Idaho. the Shenandoah, the Ossipee, and
our ironclads like the Kalamazoo, the
Roanoke, and the Dunderberg, and those
which have already been buried in the deep
like the Monitor, the Housatonic, the
Weehawken, and the Tecumseh, the tenn
pests ever since sounding volley over
their watery sepulchers, and the SCARED
veterans Of war shipping like the Constitu-
ton, or the Alliance, or the Constellation
that have swung into the naval yards to
spend their last days, their decks now all
silent of the feet that trod them, their rig
ging all silent of the hands that clung to
them, their port holes silent of the brazen
throats that once thundered out of them.
II in the first century, when war vessels
were dependent on the oars that padded
at the side of them for propulsion, my text
was suggestive, with how much more em-
phasis, and meaning, and overwhelming
reminiscence we can cry out, as we see the
Kearsage lay across the bows of the Ala
bama and sink it, teaching foreign nations
they had better keep their hands off our
American fight, or as we see the ram Albe-
marie, Of the Confederates, running out
and in the Roanoke, and up and down the
coast, throwing everything into confusion
as no other craft ever did, pursued by the
Miami, the Ceres, the Southfeld, the Sas-
sacus, the Mattabesett, the Whitehead, the
Commodore Hull, the Louisiana, the
Minnesota, and other armed vessels, all
trying in vain to catch her until Capt.
Cushing, 81 years Of age, and his men
blew her up, himself and only one other
escaping, and as see the flagship Hart
ford, and the Richmond, and the MononI
gahela, with other gunboats, sweep past
the batteries of Port Hudson, and the
Mississippi flows forever free to all north
ern and southern craft, cry out with pa
triotic emotion that cannot suppress, If I
would, and would not if could: Behold
also the ships"
At the annual decoration of graves north
and south Gmong Federals and Confeder.
ates full justice has been done TO the
memory of those who fought on the land
In our sad contest, and not enough has
been said of those who on ships deck
dared and suffered all things. Lord God
Of the rivers and the sea, help me in this
sermonl So, ye admirals, commodores,
commanders, captains, pilots, gunners,
boatswains, sailmakers surgeons, stokers,
messmates, and seamen of all names, to
use your own parlance, we might as we'll
get under way and stand out toward sea.
Let all land lubhers go ashore. Full speed
now Four bells!
Never since the sea fight of Lepanto,
where 800 royal galleys, manned by 10000
warriors, at sunrise, Sept. 6, 1871, met $50
royal galleys, manned by 100, ,000 men, and
in the four hours of battle 5000 fell on one
side and 25,000 on the other; yea, never
since the day when at Actium, thirty one
L.
ships, scattered the 300 ships of Mark
Antony and gained universal dominion as
the prize; yea, since the day when at
Salamis the u, galleys Of the Persians,
manned by 81 0. 100 men, were crushed by
Greeks with less than third Of that force;
yea, never since the time of Noah, the first
ship captain, has the world seen such q
miraculous creation as that of the Ameri-
can navy in 1861. There were about 200
available sean.en in all the naval stations
and receiving ships, and here and there an
ldvessel. Yet orders were given 10 block
Rde $500 miles of seacoast, greater than
the whole coast of Europe, and, beside
that, the Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland,
Mississippi and other great rivers, cover
ing an extent of 1900 more miles, were to
be patroled. No wonder the whole civil
lied world burst into guffaw of laughter at
the seeming impossibility. But the work
was done, done almost Immediately, done
thoroughly, and done with q speed and
consummate skill that eclipsed all the his
tory of naval architecture. What brilliant
achievements are suggested by the mere
mention Of the names of the rear admirals!
If all they did should be written, every one,
Isuppose that the world itself could not con-
tain the books that should be written. But
these names have received the honors due.
<he most Of them went to their graves un.
der the cannonade Of all the Forts, navy
yards and men, of war, the flags of all the
shipping and capitals at half mast.
But I recite to-day the deeds Of our
naval heroes who have not yet received ap-
propriate recognition. "Behold also the
national prosperity is worth until we realize
whatit cost, I recall the unrecited fact
that the men of the navy ran especial risks.
They had not only the human weaponrv to
centend with, but the tides, the fog, the
storm. Not like other ships could they run
into harbor at the approach of an equinox,
or cyclone, or a hurricane, because the
harbors were hostile. miscalcuation of
q tide might bring them on bar, and fog
might overthrow all the plans Of wisest
commodore and admiral and accident
might leave them, not on the land ready
for an ambulance, but at the bottom of the
sea, as when the torpedo blew up the Te-
cumseh, in Mobile Bay, and nearly all on
board perished. They were at the mercy
of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which
have no mercy. Such tempests as have
wrecked the Spanish armada might any
day swoop upon the squadron. No hiding
behind the earthworks. No digging in Of
cavalry spurs at the sound Of retreat.
Mightier than all the fortresses on all the
coasts is the ocean when it bombards a
hotilla. In the cemeteries for Federal and
Confederate dead are the bodies of most Of
those who fell on the land. But where
those ore who went down in the war vesse1s